Republique Team Makes a Big Move Into the Former Sotto and Picca Spaces in West LA

Republique duo Walter and Margarita Manzke are heading west, with plans to open up a big new project on the site of not one, but two, very successful former restaurants.

The Manzkes are taking over both the former Picca and Sotto spaces on Pico Boulevard near West LA, just below Beverly Hills. The two previous iterations were stacked on top of each other, meaning the Manzkes will get to occupy an entire building with not one but two fully-built kitchens. Word is they’re going to call the big new project Bicyclette.

Details are still scarce on exactly what’s to come from the place, but reps say that Bicyclette will, at least in part, operate as a French bistro, which is in some ways not unlike the evening service at Republique is now. There’s no official timetable for the openings, but the plan is to open before the end of 2019.

If it weren’t enough to be running one of the busiest restaurants anywhere in the city over on La Brea, this new project will also spread the Manzkes and their growing company in two different directions at once, considering they’ve also got plans for a different restaurant inside the Herald Examiner building in Downtown Los Angeles.

Picca and Sotto were, respectively, two big and rather popular restaurants in their time. Picca was a Peruvian hit from chef Ricardo Zarate that lasted six years; Sotto was one of LA’s most beloved Italian institutions, though it too was forced to close suddenly in January of this year. Both Zarate and Sotto chef Steve Samson are still busy these days, with the former operating Pikoh, Rosaliné, and Los Balcones Studio City, and the latter running Superfine Pizza and Rossoblu in Downtown.

Bicyclette. 9575 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, CA.

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